The present invention relates to a print tape forming apparatus having a tape cutting mechanism, and more particularly, to such apparatus capable of performing a printing operation on a tape accommodated in a tape cassette while drawing out the tape from the cassette, and capable of cutting the tape at a predetermined length after printing is made thereon.
A print tape forming apparatus of this type is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Kokai No. 2-56666. According to the publication, a tape cassette has spools for each winding thereover a transparent print tape formed of a synthetic resin, an ink ribbon, and a double-side adhesive tape which is temporarily attached to a peelable tape at one side thereof. This cassette is loadable into a print tape forming apparatus.
A lamination type print tape forming apparatus is proposed which includes a print head such as a thermal head or the like, a platen, and a feeding means for feeding out the tape to the outside of the cassette. Image data such as character data, etc. to be printed are beforehand input in the print tape forming apparatus, and on the basis of a print instruction the transparent print tape is printed with mirror images corresponding to the image data along a longitudinal direction of the tape while feeding out the tape by the actuation of the feeding means. The double-side adhesive tape is adhesively attached to a printed surface of the tape.
A receptor type print tape forming apparatus is also proposed in which an ink ribbon, a print tape of synthetic resin and an adhesive tape are accommodated in a cassette. The print tape is beforehand adhesively attached to one surface of the adhesive tape which has the other surface temporarily adhesively attached with a peelable tape. Alternatively a heat-sensitive coloring print tape is adhesively attached to one surface of an adhesive tape having the other surface temporarily adhered with a peelable tape. Such heat-sensitive print tape and the adhesive tape are accommodated in a cassette without accommodation of the ink ribbon. Printing is performed by a print head while feeding the print tape.
The above described print tape forming apparatus is normally provided with a manual cutting device for cutting the printed tape at a predetermined length. In such a conventional apparatus, an operator may inadvertently manipulate the manual cutting device during a printing operation, so that the tape running is disturbed by a blade portion, which in turn results in unwanted tape winding around the feeding means, or insufficient running of the ink ribbon.
In order to eliminate this drawback, there has been proposed a mechanism for stopping the feeding means or stopping the printing operation when the tape is cut. That is, a cutting device includes a fixed blade and a movable blade which is pivotally movable toward and away from the fixed blade. An operation lever is provided to the movable blade, and is pivotally movable by pushing an operation button against urging force of a spring. Further, a cutter actuation detecting sensor is provided in association with the operation lever. When the movable blade is moved toward the fixed blade for providing tape cutting state, the sensor is actuated to stop the feeding means and cease the printing operation.
However, even with this construction, a tape which has been printed and fed out may be accidentally cut at a halfway portion of the printing area, or the non-printed zone of the print tape may be largely provided due to interception of the printing operation. In addition, the provision of the sensor increases production cost.